Railway-car



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. A. B. HARRIS.

RAILWAY GAR.

No. 342,090. Paigented May 18, 1886.

%$TNEssEs: I m r gg c a 'BY' W5; 6% ATTORNEY (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. B. HARRIS.

RAILWAY GAR.

No. 342,090. Patented May 18, 1886 INVENTOR 15%; ATTORNEY WITNESSES? rrnn dramas arnnr tries.

AZARIAH B. HARRIS, or SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

RAlLWAY CAR.

fiPI-EGIEICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,090, dated May 18, 1886,

Application filed November 30,1885. Serial No. 184,!40. (N model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AZARIAH B. HARRIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spring field, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway Parlor Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railway par1or-cars,'the object being to provide a car of this class of improved construction, whereby said car embodies the combined conveniences of an observation-car, a parlor, and a compartment car, all as hereinafter fully set forth.

111 the drawings forming part of this speciiieation, Figure l is a plan View of a car, the roof being removed, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of a part of the body of said car, showing a transverse section on line a :0, Fig. 1, said views illustrating a car embodying my improvements.

In the drawings, A indicates a compartment at each end of the car of the whole width of the latter, which is provided with suitable separateseats, b, of an y convenient form for passengers, which are located, preferably, at fixed points near the opposite sides of the said compartments, as shown. Additional seats 0, of a tte-a-tete form, are indicated as arranged in a line centrally between the said seats 1),- providing seats for four persons, and thus said; seats I) and 0 provide places for twelve persons in each of said compartments A, although eight is the usual number carried therein. That part of the car between the said end comf partments, A, has several other separate passenger-compartments, D, arranged therein, preferably 3, although there may be more or less than that number, and in addition to said passenger-compartments D, between the end compartments, A, toilet and buffet compart ments h and K, respectively, are constructed and located between the said end compart ments and the adjoining compartments D,and the latter are made considerably narrower, as shown, than the said end compartments, thereby leaving a balcony, E, on each side of the car, extending between the end compartments, A, and in front of all of the above-mentioned intermediate compartments, ID, 7:, and K. A,

suitable railing, at, is erected on each balcony between the end compartments, A, and thereby aconvenient and safe passage-way is formed on each side of theintermerjliate compartments above mentioned, whereby persons may pass from one end of the car to the other without entering the said intermediate compartments, and whereby access is had to each one of the latter independently of the others. Suitable posts, 0, extend from the balconyn to the edge of the roof of the car at suitable intervals. If desired, the entire space occupied by the intermediate compartments, D, may be embraced in a single parlor-compartment, having a door or doors opening onto the balconies E. The compartments D are provided with separate seats o, of any suitable construction, (not shown in Fi 2,) there ordinarily being a room for four in each, and they are preferably made movable. The walls of the said end compartments, A, have windows, of as large superficial area as is practicable, on the sides of the car, as well as at the end thereof, and also through those portions of the walls opposite the ends of the balconies E. Fig. 2 illustrates a side of one of the end compartments,the opposite side of the latter being substantially identical with that shown in said figure. Said walls of the end compartments, A, 011 each side have the central window, J, the curved window N, at the end of the car, and a like curved window, T, at the end of that part of the compartment A opposite the balcony E.

It will be seen that all of the corners of the compartments A are curved, thereby providing such corner form as permits of extending the curved windows N from the plane of the sidewalls around the corner to the plane of the end of the car, and in like manner the window T is extended from said plane ofthe side wall around the corner opposite the endof the balcony, thus removing any opaque obstructions to a view from the compartments A laterally or forward or backward through the corners thereof.

The above-described construction and arrangement of the end compartment, A, is identical in both of these compartments of the car.

Entrance to the car is had by a door, w, at each end of the car, which doors open into the border molding or strip L thereon.

compartments A, and from the latter exit is had to the balconies E on either side of the car by the doors i,hung on the cross-partitionsff.

The above-mentioned intermediate compartments, D, (shown in plan view in Fig. 1, and one thereof in perspective in Fig. 2,) are provided with two windows, 2 z, on each side, and doorsy y, opposite each other and at either end of the cross passage-way between the seats 1). The said doors 3 are constructed to slide in the ordinary way in or on theside walls of the compartment to a position when the doorway is opened between one of the seats 11 and the adjoining side of said wall, the window in the door under such circumstances coming opposite the window a, and thereby offering no obstruction to an outward view from the interior of the car.

The side walls of the compartments D extend upward to the under side of the main roof H, as shown in Fig. 2, and said roof extends laterally beyond said walls about to a line with the outer edge of the balconies E, covering the latter, and having the pending A curved ceiling, S, over the compartments Dis made continuous over all of the latter, as well as over the end compartments, A, and is far enough below the roof Hto leave an air-space,

" 0, between the latter and said ceiling, through which air circulates freely from end to end of the car, and suitable ventilating-pipes are fixed in the ceiling S to conduct air from all of said compartments into said air-space, whereby desirable ventilation is secured.

The cross-partitions tbetween the compartments D are in practice constructed preferably with a central plate of glass inserted therein, (not shown in the drawings,) to give a lighter appearance to said compartments. The buffet and the toilet compartments K and hare provided with the requisite conveniences pertaining thereto, and are accessible from either of the balconies. Sliding doors, as above described, are employed at the entrances to the latter-named compartments.

As a result of the above-described car construction, a combinedparlor, observation, and compartment car is produced which affords thefollowing advantages. Occupants of the end compartment, A, in the forward end of the car have through the abovedescribed windows therein, in addition to the usual lateral view, an unobstructed View in the direction in which the car is moving, very little interfered with by the next car forward, by reason of the corner-windows N, and a like rearward view through the windows T, looking toward the ends of the balconies, and the occupants of the end compartment at the rear end of the car enjoy a rearward view like tosaid forward view from the compartment at the opposite end, and a forward view through the windows opposite the ends of the balconies, which, on account of the inward positions of the side walls of the intermediate compartments, D, is in some respects superior to that had from the forward compartment, because of the wide range which is thereby afforded; and, furthermore, the balconies E provide for the occupants of the end, as well as for those of theintermediate, compartments a convenient and agreeable promenade in the open air, both while the car may be in motion and while ata station. The occupants of the said intermediate compartments enjoy the seclusion afforded thereby without interruption from persons passing from one end to the other of the car, and views from the windows thereof, forward and to the rearward, (according to the location of the compartment relative to the direction of the movement of the can) but little, if any, inferior to those had from the end compartments; and owing to the position of the intermediate compartments over the center of the car between the sides of the latter,- and the extension of the roof H (having the pending border L thereon) laterally beyond the sides of said compartments, the rays of the sun are in a great measure excluded from the latter, and they are in hot weather rendered much more comfortablel The roof and ceiling construction herein shown, whereby an air-space, O, is formed between the ceiling and roof for ventilating purposes, does not constitute any part of the invention for which protection is sought by this application; but that feature of the improvements herein described and shown is reserved for another application, which is filed by me.

The car-roof is supported by the broad compartments at the ends of the car, and overhangs the promenade outside the narrowerintermediate compartments.

.I am aware that a car has been described in which were a number of octagonal compartments with a promenade alongside the same; but such compartments were of the same width throughout the length of the car. I make no claim to such construction. 7

- What I claim as my invention is- 1. A car having a compartment, substantially as described, at each end thereof of the full width of the car, one or more intermediate separate compartments between said end compartments, narrower than the latter, balconies extending between said end compartments on each side of the intermediate ones, a roof covering the broad compartments and overhanging the promenade between these compartments, and doors, substantially as described, from all of said compartments, which communicate with said balconies,substantially as set forth.

2. A car having a compartment, substantially as described, at each end thereof of the full width of the car, one or more intermediate separate passenger-compartments and buffet and toilet compartments between said end compartments, narrower than the latter, balconies extending between said end compartments on each side of said intermediate passenger, buffet, and toilet compartments, and rower than the latter, balconies extending bedoors, substantially as described, from all of, tween said cndcompartments oneach side ofthe said compartments, which communicate with intermediate ones, and doors, substantially as said balconies, substantially as set forth. described,from all ofsaid co1npartments,which 5 3. A car having a compartment, substa'ncommunicate with said balconies,snbstantially I 5 tially as described, at each end thereof of the as set forth.

full width of the car, in the walls of which, at AZARIAH B. HARRIS. each corner thereof, are set curved Windows, Vitnosses: one or more intermediate separate compart- H. A. OIIAPIN,

IO ments between said end compartments, nar- \V. F. RICE. 

